Button-fastener.



1%.. 796,650. PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905. G. A. HOLMES.

BUTTON FASTENER.

AP$LIOATION rum) ArB.7,1904.

. mmsw a cum-M ca, PNoTo-Lvmonmvuins WASWNGTON u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. HOLMES, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO UNITED STATES FASTENER COMPANY, OF BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

BUTTON-FASTENER- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 8, 1905.

Application filed April '7, 1904. Serial No. 201,961.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. HoLMns, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newton, in the county-of Middlesex and Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement inButton-Fasteners, of which the following is a full specification,reference being had to the' accompanying drawings, wherein like lettersrepresent like parts.

My invention relates to button-fasteners, so called, composed of a maleor button memher and a female or buttonhole member; and it consists inan improved form of male or button member embodying certain new andimproved features of construction whereby after the said member has beenriveted to the article on which it is to be used by suitable pressure ina manner common to fasteners of its class it can, if desired, be bysimple and inexpensive means removed from the article without materialinjury to itself or the article, after which it can be reset upon thearticles as desired.

In order to use snap-fasteners successfully on certain classes ofarticles, such as shoes, it is desirable to have a fastener which can beapplied to the article inthe manufactory by a machine and dies in assimple and quick a manner-as is customarily employed in settingfasteners. At the same time it is often desirable to alter the positionof the fastener in order to adapt the shoe or other article to the needsoft). purchaser, and on this account it is desirable to make the studmember of the fastener removable, so that its position may be changed.Furthermore, the fastener must preferably be attached in such a mannerthat when its position is changed it will not leave an unsightly holeinthe material. With these objects in view I have invented my improvedremovable male or button member which consists of a button or ballhaving on its under side a convex perforated nut-forming bottom plate,preferably of soft metal, and an attaching-rivet having a threaded shankwhich will just pass easily through the perforation in the convexnut-forming bottom plate of the stud when it is in its normal position.In this way I successfully accomplish the object already stated ofproviding a screw-attached fastener which may be originally applied inas quick and simple manner as ordinary rivetfasteners and obviously muchmore quicklythan screw-fasteners having preformed male and femalescrew-threads in the respective parts, requiring many turns to effectattachment, and yet I retain the advantage of removability andreadjustment inherent in screw-attached fasteners.

In my improved button or ball member I simply insert the threaded shankof the screw through the material and then through the unthreaded holein the convex nut-forming bottom plate of the stud and press the twoparts together by any suitable or common means with the material betweenthem. The result of this pressure is that the convex bottom plate isflattened, contracting the central perforation about the threaded shankso tightly that the thread of this shank is pressed into the soft metalof the bottom plate, holding the ball firmly onto the material and atthe same time transforming it into a nut or screw button or ball whichcan be readily unscrewed from the shank, and thus be removed and placedin a new location. The diameter of the screw-shank may be such as tonecessitate only a very small hole in the material, so that theappearance of the shoe or other article is not materially injured bychanging the position of the stud.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows in section myimproved ball member with the two parts placed in juxtaposition with thematerial between them. Fig. 2 shows the same with the threaded screwpassed through the material and the convex nut-forming bottom platebefore pressure is applied. Fig. 3 shows the same after the pressure isapplied, riveting the two parts together onto the material andtransforming the convex bottom plate into a threaded nut. threadedscrew, showing holes for use of a wrench or spanner. Fig. 5 shows insection the convex nut-forming bottom plate before attachment withoutthreads. Fig. 6 shows in section the convex. nut-forming bottom plateafter attachment with threads.

In the drawings, A is a button or ball, B the material, and C theattaching-screw. The button or ball may be of any common form having ahead. It is preferably hollow and may or may not be non-resilient,depending upon whether the opposed socket member Fig. 4 is a plan of theunder side of my is resilient or non-resilient. In the particular ballmember herein shown the -outer edge of the flange (0 I preferably turndown and under to embrace the outer edge of the convex nut-formingbottom plate (4 having the central perforation a. The attaching-screw Ohas the threaded shank 0 and the head 0, having the perforations 0 bywhich it may be engaged bya suitable wrench or spanner in order to turnit. As shown in Figs. 3 and 6, after the operation of setting thematerial of the washer a is forced around the screwshank 0 and embeddedinto the thread thereof, so that it forms a nut to cooperate with thesaid screw-shank.

I have shown the material of the shoe or other article as perforatedprior to attaching the fastener; but by pointing the screw slightly andholding the two parts in proper alinement when they are pressed togetherthe screw may be made to pierce its own hole and rivet into the stud, asbefore.

For convenience of manufacture I preferably make the nut-forming bottomplate, as shown, in the form of a separate washer secured by itsperiphery to the turned-under edge of the flange of the ball; but it isevident that this and many other details of mere form and workmanshipmay be modified or changed for equivalents without departing from thespirit of my invention. I

The ball or stud is preferably hollow, or at least sufficiently so topermit proper engagement of the parts, some portion of the screwshankpassing into the interior of the ball. The ball may be used inconjunction with a resilient female member or otherwise.

I claim 1. A hollow male or stud member of a separable snap-fastenerprovided with a convex nut-forming bottom plate which may be flattenedby pressure, in combination with a headed attaching-screw, whereby saidmember may he removably attached to the material by pressure between thestud and the attaching-screw.

2. A ball or button member for attachment to a shoe or like articlecomprising the ball, a convex, centrally-apertured unthreaded,nutforming plate secured to the ball, and a screw having a head orflange adapted to bear against the material of the shoe, and a threadedshank adapted to be passed through the material and inserted looselyinto the aperture in said plate,

the said plate adapted to be flattened by pres-- sure against said heador flange to contract the aperture in said plate and form a screwthreadtherein by reason of the metal being embedded in the threads of saidscrew; whereby the ball or button member may be removably attached tothe shoe or other article.

3. A balllor button combined with an attaching part having a shank ofrelatively hard metal and a wide flat head or flange, the hall or buttonhaving a part of relatively soft metal; the hard shank havingscrew-threads for substantially its entire length, and the soft metalpart so constructed as to engage with said screw-shank, and to becomeembedded in the threads of said shank when simple nonrotative pressureis applied between the two, whereby the same are firmly secured togetherand at the same time the said soft-metal part is converted into athreaded nut from which the attaching part may be removed by unscrewing, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereofIhave signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 1st day of April,

GEORGE A. HOLMES. Witnesses:

FRED JOY,

A. H. FLANNERY.

